Pump and valve unit



R. B. SAALFRANK 2,707,485

PUMP AND VALVE UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 m a Q a Q i May 3, 1955 Filed Aug.13, 1949 May 3, 1955 R. B. SAALFRANK 2,707,435

PUMP AND VALVE UNIT Filed Aug. 13. 1949 i Sheets-Sheet 2 United StatesPatent PUMP AND VALVE UNIT Royal Bartlett Saalfranlr, Gulfport, Fla.,assignor to Milton Roy Company, Springfield Township, Montgomery County,Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 13, 1949, SerialNo. 119,049

3 Ciaims. (Cl. 137-512) The present invention relates to piston pumpsespecially of the metering type, and to valve units therefor.

A purpose of the invention is to facilitate the construction of pump andcheck valve assemblies, reducing the amount of time required, andavoiding the danger of formation of air pockets.

A further purpose is to employ low cost precision machining methods inmanufacture of metering pump and valve units.

A further purpose is to facilitate the manufacture of the largerpassages of pump and valve units by drilling through the normal openingssuch as the inlet, outlet and valve socket openings.

A further purpose is to arrange the inlet and outlet passages inprolongation so that they can be drilled as a single bore.

A further purpose is to employ straight diagonal inlet and outletpassages with vertically downwardly extending valve sockets terminatingin valve seat recesses, the valve seats in the recesses extending acrossthe passages so that the valve seats close the otherwise straightpassages at each valve.

A further purpose is to provide lateral limiters for each valve on theseats or on the plugs in the sockets.

A further purpose is to drill interconnecting passages for the inlet toand outlet from the pump cylinder through the valve sockets.

A further purpose is to employ separate valve units having diagonallyextending passages and vertically downwardly extending sockets, heldtogether by interconnecting clamps.

Further purposes appear in the specification and inthe claims.

In the drawings I have chosen to illustrate a few only of the numerousembodiments in which my invention may appear, choosing the forms shownfrom the standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactoryoperation and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

Figures 1, 2 and 7 are sections of variant forms of the invention takentransversely to the cylinder and longitudinally of the inlet and outletpassages.

Figures 3 and 6 are fragmentary sections of still further variantscorresponding in position to Figures 1, 2 and 7.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary elevation of one of the valve units of Figure3 looking in the direction of the arrow A.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary elevation of the structure of Figure 3 showingthe clamps, the view being transverse to the axis of the inlet passagefrom above, in the direction of the arrow B.

Figure 8 is an enlarged top plan view of the valve seat of Figures 1, 2and 3.

Figure 9 is an enlarged bottom plan View of the valve plug of Figure 6.

Describing in illustration but not in limitation and referring to thedrawings:

In the prior art, metering pumps have been developed as shown in MiitonRoy Sheen U. S. Patents 2,263,429

' passages through a cover plate.

mamas Patented May 3, 1 955 ice and 2,367,893 which employ a pluralityof check valves in the inlet passage and a plurality of check valves inthe outlet passage. The manufacture of such pumps has been complicatedby the necessity'of employing a series of cored passages or of gainingaccess for machining of the Either practice is expensive.

By the present invention the production costs are decreased and thedevice is simplified by permitting machining through normal openingssuch as the inlet, outlet and socket openings, and at the same time byproviding increased protection against the possibility of entrapment ofair through the presence of unintended pockets in the passages. Nodownwardly extending pocket is provided in which air could be trapped.

in the preferred embodiment of the invention the ini let and outletpassages are straight but diagonal to the forms the piston axis istransverse thereto.

horizontal, while the valves and valve seats are located in downwardlyextending valve sockets which are diagonal to the passages. In the bestexample of this construction, both the inlet and outlet passages extendin prolongation of one another.

The passages may if desired be formed by bores which are in prolongationof the valve sockets and therefore which can be drilled through thevalve sockets.

The inlet and outlet passages, when diagonally extending, are providedwith seats in seat recesses which extend across and close the passagesexcept for the valve openings.

Lateral limitations are provided on the valves either by lugs on theseat or on the valve plug, while upward limitations on the valves areprovided either by the bottom or by a rim on the valve plug. 7

The valve units notwithstanding the diagonal direction of the passagescan desirably be made in separate components to be clamped together.

As shown in Figure 1, the pump comprises cylinder 20 having a piston 21reciprocating under the action of any suitable drive not shown. In thisform the axis of the piston is in the plane of the paper, while in theother Inlet to the pump is provided through a diagonally upwardlyextending inlet passage 22 from an inlet connection 23 and outlet isprovided through a diagonally upwardly extending outlet passage 24 to anoutlet connection 25. The pump will normally operate on liquid suppliedand withdrawn through these connections.

it will be noted that in this form the inlet and outlet passages arestraight and in prolongation of one another and that, with the pistonremoved, the outlet passage is drilied through the inlet passage as astraight bore.

v series with one another are located a plurality of verticallydownwardly extending valve sockets 28 and 30. Each of the valve socketshas a sealing recess 31 near its upper end and a female thread 32 belowthe same. Each of the valve sockets terminates in a valve seat recess 33which extends diagonally across the inlet or outlet passage as the casemay be.

The valve seat recesses receive valve seats 34, which are preferably allalike, and are preferably of disc shape, having central valve openings35, upwardly converging inlet openings 36 to the valve openings, andseats 37 at the top. Each seat is engaged by a check valve 38,preferably a ball, as shown. The valve normally opens vertically upward,so that return is provided by gravity, usually rendering a return springunnecessary.

The halls are laterally restrained by radially inwardly extending lugs46, best seen in Figure 8, which have an internal diameter larger thanthe ball and adequately large to provide freedom, with spaces 41 betweento permit flow of liquid upwardly when the balls are off their seats.

Above each seat and valve is a plug 42 having a nut 43 at the upper end,a sealing shoulder 44 below the nut engaging in the sealing recess 31,and male threads 45 lower down which engage with the female threads 32.Still lower each plug conically converges at 46 to clear the passage 22or 24, and terminates at the bottom in a preferably flat stop 46 whichis located somewhat above the normal seating position of the ball andwhich restrains upward movement of the ball.

In operation it will be understood that the valve seat recesses and thesockets are drilled and tapped through the socket openings, while theinlet and outlet passages are drilled through the inlet passage. Theseats and balls are assembled through the socket openings and then theplugs are installed. The diameter of the threads will of course belarger than the diameter of the seats.

If desired, the plugs 42 can be shortened as shown in Figure 2, withcorresponding shortening of the sockets 28' and in this case more abrupttapers will desirably be employed at 44, the construction otherwisebeing similar to that of Figure 1.

The construction of Figures 1 or 2 on both the inlet and outlet sidescan be made by separating the cylinder 20 from successive valve units 47each including a portion of the straight passage and one of the sockets,and interconnected to the cylinder and to one another by metalto-metalseals 48 as shown in Figure 3. Each of the metal-to-metal sealspreferably includes a fiat outer portion and a tapering conical innerportion as shown. To secure together the individual valve units, themost remote valve unit from the cylinder has wings 50 containingopenings 51 through which clamp rods 52 parallel to the respective inletand outlet passages extend on either side of the passages, beingthreaded at 53 into the pump cylinder, and, the units being compressedto the pump cylinder by clamping nuts 54 threaded on the ends of therods remote from the cylinder.

While in Figure 1 the inlet and outlet passages are in prolongation ofone another, in Figure 2 the outlet passage is not in prolongation ofthe inlet passage. In Figures 3, 4 and 5 it is intended to indicate thateither condition may prevail as desired. In either case the inlet shouldconnect with the bottom of the cylinder as shown.

In some cases it may be desirable to provide the lateral limitation onthe valve by lugs 40' at radially spaced points on the bottom of theplug allowing freedom for the ball as shown in Figures 6 and 9, thespaces 41 between the lugs permitting free flow of liquid in openposition of the valve.

It may be desirable in some cases to make an irregularly shaped inlet oroutlet passage by bores drilled through the valve sockets. This is shownin Figure 7, in which each valve socket 26 27 28 or 30 preferablysomewhat wider in proportion to the other dimensions than in the otherforms, is in line with a diagonally upwardly extending portion 55 of.the inlet or outlet passage and a vertically downwardly extendingportion 56 communicating with the next portion 55 through a bottom 57 ofthe valve socket, and containing a valve seat recess 33, in this caseshouldered to receive a shouldered seat having lugs provided with upwardextensions as shown. In this form each of the plugs has a diagonalannular shoulder 60 at the edge of its bottom face, a portion of whichaligns with the ball and acts as a stop for upward motion of the ballsuitably located above the ball.

In operation, the various other forms, once produced as described,function similar to that of Figure 1.

It will be evident that in the various forms shown, the valve seat ispreferably located in a well or socket which is preferably verticallydownwardly extending and in the best form extends diagonally across adiagonally upwardly extending inlet or outlet passage.

It will be evident that in order to avoid entrapment of air in thepumping, all of the passages and other recesses avoid downwardlyextending hollows or pockets which lack continuous upward flow.

It will further be evident that in the preferred embodiments allpassages can be drilled through normal inlet, outlet and socket openingsof the valves.

It will further be evident that where preferred the valve units can bemade separately to permit disassembly for inspection, cleaning orreplacement of individual units.

In view of my invention and disclosure variations and modifications tomeet individual whim or particular fancy will doubtless become evidentto others skilled in the art, to obtain all or part of the benefits ofmy invention without copying the structure shown, and I, therefore,claim all such insofar as they fall within the reasonable spirit andscope of my claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a valve assembly, a valve body having a through passage extendingdiagonally upward in a straight line, a plurality of verticallydownwardly extending valve sockets at a plurality of spaced pointsextending downwardly into and across the passage, separate valve seatdiscs having valve openings and each positioned at the bottom of one ofthe sockets obstructing the passage except for the valve opening, a ballcheck valve on each seat and a plug closing each socket above the seat,the plug forming a stop for limiting the upper motion for the checkvalve.

2. A valve assembly according to claim 1, in which the plug has atapered lower end which conforms at the side to the direction of thediagonal passage.

3. A valve assembly according to claim 1, in which the plug has atapered lower end in combination with limiting lugs at a plurality ofspaced points around each ball check valve.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS668,946 Baker et a1. Feb. 26, 1901 707,079 Blevney Aug. 19, 19021,022,556 Johnson et a1. Apr. 9, 1912 1,061,768 McOuat May 13, 19131,503,646 Fish Aug. 5, 1924 2,263,429 Sheen Nov. 18, 1941 2,367,893Sheen Jan. 23, 1945 2,391,852 Winton Dec. 25, 1945 2,554,481 Sheen May22, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 143,468 Switzerland 1931

